Jonny Wilkinson believes that Danny Cipriani will take Australia's Super 15 competition by storm with the Melbourne Rebels and play himself into contention for the World Cup next year.

Cipriani is due to join his new team-mates on Wednesday and Wilkinson is confident that Cipriani's controversial departure from Wasps will help the player rediscover himself and the kind of form that enabled him to score 18 points on his international debut in the Six Nations victory over Ireland in March 2008.

England manager Martin Johnson has made it clear that Cipriani, 22, cannot be part of his elite player squad this season as the fly-half's Super 15 commitments will rule him out of this season's Six Nations Championship. Melbourne open their campaign against the Waratahs on Feb 18, six days before England face France at Twickenham.

Yet Wilkinson, who himself has revived his international career by turning his back on the English domestic game with a successful move to Top 14 side Toulon, believes Cipriani's move away from the media spotlight could benefit England in the longer term. The last of Cipriani's seven caps came in England's 42-6 defeat by South Africa at Twickenham in November 2008.

Moving away, says Wilkinson, ''gives you that simplicity back and reminds you why you started playing the game and what it is you love about it. You just go out there and play and it takes away the other side of it.

"My move has given me the chance to concentrate on what is important.

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"Being away clears away the obstacles, the hurdles and the distractions and make the most of your talent. If Danny can achieve some of that, then I am sure he can do that. I have no doubt he will go over there and take it by storm. It would be a good move wherever he went, because he will do a hell of a job."

Melbourne are the first Australian professional franchise to be given a dispensation to sign up to 10 overseas players and Cipriani is joined in the fledging squad by former Bath and England flanker Michael Lipman and former Gloucester and Wales No 8 Gareth Delve.

He has spent the summer since leaving Wasps training with a number of football clubs in an attempt to condition himself for what he hopes will be a new chapter in a career that has stalled since he suffered a horrendous ankle injury while playing in the Premiership semi-final in 2008.

Wilkinson holds high hopes of representing England at next year's World Cup, but says he would welcome the rivalry of a Cipriani firing on all cylinders again for a place in Johnson's 30-man squad bound for New Zealand.

"Danny has a huge, huge future [with England]," added Wilkinson. "This may be an experience that is going to give him an even bigger impact when it does come about.

"The important thing is what he does is right for him and that his next step is a move forward. If he is in control of the move and able to influence it, then it will be a big, big step.

"Danny will go out there and search for his best. That is what I am trying to do out here [in Toulon]. When you go after it you start looking for the little added differences. It is an exciting prospect. If Danny is on form, then people need to benefit from it."